


More than the moon

by Kass



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 03:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5358704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kass/pseuds/Kass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wish, more than anything. Four happily ever afters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More than the moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mystarsandmyocean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystarsandmyocean/gifts).



>   
> I wish
> 
> more than anything
> 
> more than life
> 
> more than the moon
> 
> \-- Into the Woods

### 1\. I wish

"You're nervous," Iko said.

"Why would I be nervous?" Cinder's reply was automatic. As she stared out at the half-Earth suspended like a teardrop against the blackness of space she scanned her mental checklist for the fourteenth time.

She had left instructions for every eventuality she could think of. She trusted the council -- well, she trusted some members of the council. Mostly the ones she trusted were from the outer sectors; their needs made sense to her. Did she trust them enough to leave Luna in their hands? She was still vacillating on that, but she was going to have to take that leap sometime.

"I packed your suitcase myself," Iko assured her. "You have everything you need."

"...That's not what I'm nervous about."

"So you admit it!" Iko crowed. "You're nervous about seeing Kai, aren't you?"

"I see him every day." Every Earthen morning, and every Earthen night -- taking into account that sometimes Kai stayed up far later than was probably good for him.

At first it had felt strange to comm him so frequently. Presumptuous, somehow. Not for the Queen of Luna to be meeting with the Emperor of the Commonwealth, but for her -- Cinder -- to make demands on Kai's time. He'd been gone for ten Earthen days when she admitted that she felt awkward about their portscreen dates.

"Don't you dare," Kai had said. "Don't you dare take this away from me." And then he'd said, "Do you have any idea what a difference it makes that you see me?"

Cinder had blinked, momentarily at a loss for words. "Everyone sees you."

"No, everyone sees the Emperor. No one sees _me_. Not the way that you do."

She still couldn't believe it sometimes: that he needed her as much as she needed him. But she was learning to take it on faith, most of the time.

"Via comm," Iko scoffed, breaking Cinder's reverie. "Not the same."

"No, it's not," Cinder admitted. She blew out a breath. "Of course I'm nervous."

"He's as nervous as you are," Iko said.

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Konn told me."

Cinder turned away from the half-Earth to look at Iko, whose eyes were a smug and happy golden-brown. "You've been talking with Konn?"

"One counselor to another," Iko shrugged. "There were preparations to make for your royal visit."

"What have you told him?" If Cinder could have blushed, she would have.

"Nothing!" Iko assured her. Then, after a pause, she added, "...I might have asked whether Kai was as anxious about your visit as you are."

"Iko," Cinder groaned.

"No, no, it's good, because he absolutely is."

"How is that good?!"

"Because it matters to him as much as it matters to you," Iko pointed out. "Besides, you know the minute you see him you're going to fall into his arms. It's going to be like the end of a fairy tale."

"It's not going to be the end of anything," Cinder pushed back. "It's a short trip."

"And your shuttle awaits."

Cinder took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready to go."

### 2\. more than anything

It was possible that someday Cress' heart would stop doing zero-g somersaults every time she caught sight of Thorne. That day was not today.

The Rampion was on autopilot as they flew over the Indian Ocean, and Cress was reading about their next destination. They didn't have time for sight-seeing, at least not yet, but Thorne thought they could make a quick stop at Uluru.

She'd been enjoying the crash course in Australian history. But the minute Thorne walked into the room, her ability to focus on her tablet was shot. She marked her place and turned it off, setting the tablet on the low table in front of her.

"How's the reading?"

"Fascinating," Cress said.

"Did you know Australia was founded by convicts?" Thorne grinned.

"That's not exactly true."

"Close enough," Thorne said. "Which is why I've always wanted to visit." He sat down on the couch next to her and propped his feet on the table, crossing his ankles in his high leather boots. He was near enough for her to notice the spicy scent of his aftershave.

Most nights they spent an hour pressed together on her bunk or his. He had cursed the lack of spaciousness with a truly dazzling array of invective, though Cress was secretly glad of it; it meant that they had to be close together. She wasn't sure yet which she liked better: being on top of him, or melting underneath.

Even so, she tingled now where his arm was pressed casually against hers.

"I was thinking," Thorne began.

"Oh?"

"We'll be arriving in Sydney late afternoon. Clearing customs and unloading the crates shouldn't take long."

Every nation on Earth welcomed the Rampion with open arms, because everyone knew what it carried. Cress nodded.

"Want to grab dinner out?" Thorne sounded studiously nonchalant.

"I assumed we'd eat off-ship," Cress said. They usually did, when timing permitted. Everyone took rotations in the galley, and their larder was well-stocked, but eating off-ship was still a treat.

"I mean just us."

Realization bloomed in Cress' chest. "Are you asking me on a date?"

"I don't know if it's a _date_ , exactly," he hedged.

He was nervous, Cress realized, with a start. Carswell Thorne was nervous about taking her out to dinner. The thought erased her own nervousness altogether, replacing it with bubbles fizzing along her spine.

"On one condition," Cress said, taking a chance, and was rewarded when he turned to her, startled.

"What's that?"

Suddenly her plan felt silly, but she pressed on. "A kiss."

His eyes sparked. They hadn't engaged in public displays of affection outside of his quarters or hers. She wasn't sure whether that was in deference to his sensibilities or her own, but this felt like a leap.

"Anytime." His voice was light, but as he leaned in, the expression on his face felt like a promise.

### 3\. more than life

As she expected, Scarlet found Ze'ev in the cargo bay doing calisthenics. "Tomorrow," she said.

He stopped moving and stared at her. "Already?"

Scarlet sat on one of the crates, her feet dangling. "Thorne says he can handle the rest of western Europe without us."

Ze'ev nodded, slowly.

"Before you ask, yes, I'm still sure," Scarlett said.

His shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch. It might have looked like defeat to someone who didn't know him as well as Scarlett did, but to her it was a clear signal of relief. In three giant strides he had reached her crate and dropped gracefully into a cross-legged position on the floor.

He liked sitting on the floor. He said it was because it made things feel fairer -- he was so much bigger than everyone else that if he sat on the same level as them, he intimidated them. And that was probably true, with everyone else. With her, Scarlett knew, it was something different. Grateful submission. He was part of her pack.

"Émilie's making sure the pantry is stocked for us."

When he smiled, his canine teeth showed. "Tomatoes?"

Scarlet laughed. "Not in season, but we'll grow them in the summer."

"Okay." Ze'ev paused, obviously searching for words, and then plunged on. "Will it be painful for you?"

"Growing tomatoes?"

"Being there without your grandmother."

"I wish you could have known her." She could imagine how grand-mére would have reacted to Ze'ev. There would have been a raised eyebrow, a sharp inquiry or two, and then she would have insisted that he sit at the kitchen table so that she could feed him.

"You didn't answer my question."

Scarlet smiled, wistfully. "Yeah. It'll be hard to be there without her. But I won't be there without family."

In response Ze'ev lay his head on her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair, gently, and the vibration of his constant motion stilled.

### 4\. more than the moon

As their shuttle lifted off, Winter closed her eyes. She didn't want to watch the dome over Artemesia recede.

It wasn't that was reluctant to leave Luna. It hadn't felt like home since she was a child. It had been a prison. A prison whose walls dripped wih blood or sprouted icicles or turned topsy-turvy with no notice, for as long as she could remember. And now that her mind was mostly still and manageable, she was more aware of the looks people threw her way -- both the awe and the contempt. (She was uncomfortable with both.)

No: a whole planet of people who didn't have the Gift sounded amazing. But she'd had too many bad dreams which began with leaving the moon, and then transitioned into another one of her stepmother's tricks. She was irrationally certain that if she didn't watch the moon shrink outside the window, this moment would stay real and she wouldn't wake up gasping in fear back in Levana's reign.

She didn't have waking hallucinations anymore, but even Dr. Nandez's device couldn't protect her from bad dreams.

Jacin's hand covered hers, warm and familiar. She squeezed tight, grateful. After a long moment he spoke. "It's just space out there now -- you can open your eyes. If you want."

Winter opened her eyes, but she looked at Jacin instead of out the window. His hair was pulled back, as usual, and his jaw sparkled slightly -- he hadn't shaved this morning, which was unusual. She reached her other hand up to cup his cheek for a moment. Raspy like a cat's tongue. He turned his head slightly to press a kiss to her palm and sunlight sparked along her nerve endings.

Jacin's ability to make her feel simultaneously cherished and free, daring and safe, had not diminished as she'd gained control over her rampant mind. Her left hand continued to tingle even after she returned it to her lap.

"Are you glad to be leaving?" he asked quietly.

"I'll miss the menagerie," Winter mused.

"They have animals on Earth, you know."

"And I expect you to take me to visit at least one arctic wolf," she agreed. "Even though he won't be Ryu. Are you glad to be leaving?"

"Wherever you go, I go," Jacin said, as she knew he would.

"Wherever you live, I will live," Winter mused. "Your people will be my people."

Jacin looked at her quizzically.

"Very old poetry. I learned it from one of my mom's books." After Levana's death, a woman who had known Solstice had come forward from one of the outer districts with a box of photographs and books. Several of them were now in the cargo hold -- she hadn't been willing to leave all of them behind.

"I'm glad you have those."

Winter's right hand was still encased in Jacin's. She turned it beneath his hand so she could intertwine her fingers with his, a perfect pattern of dark and light. "I'm glad I have you."

Jacin ducked his head slightly, but not enough to hide the color which rose in his cheeks. "After all this time, you shouldn't be surprised."

"I didn't say I was surprised. I said I was glad."

"Me too," Jacin said quietly, looking down at their clasped hands. He didn't let go.


End file.
